1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an apparatus and method for generating a broadcast interoperable protocol (BIOP) message and in particular, to an apparatus and method for generating a broadcast interoperable protocol message in order to effectively generate a broadcast interoperable protocol message from a data/object carousel in a data server.
2. Description of the Background Art
Recently, as the standards for digital TV have been provided, broadcast protocols based on them are being implemented. A digital storage media-command control (DSM-CC) object carousel among the above protocols plays a role in repeatedly transmitting a series of objects from a broadcast server to a client. At this time, data or properties of the objects in the object carousel are transmitted in a message, and this message is referred to as a broadcast interoperable protocol (BIOP) message. The BIOP message includes a service gateway, a directory, a file and a stream message.
The objects (a service gateway, directory, file and stream message) in the object carousel are constructed as a tree structure, in which the location of each object is judged by its parent node, and the parent node stores information on the objects belonging to its directory.
FIG. 1 illustrates a tree structure of objects in an object carousel, wherein a service gateway has a directory object below itself, and the directory has a file, a stream, and other directory objects below itself.
In order to process the objects in the above tree structure and transmit them to a client, a protocol in accordance with the conventional art generates an object carousel as a BIOP message in the form of individually constituting a route from a parent node to a target object for each object. Therefore, the BIOP message not only increases the size of data to be transmitted from a server to a client, but also accordingly generates a broadcast interoperable protocol in a noneffective way.
Meanwhile, a definite protocol has not been defined yet in constituting a BIOP message which forms an object carousel from the objects in the above tree structure.
Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide an apparatus for generating a broadcast interoperable protocol capable of effectively generating a broadcast interoperable protocol (BIOP) when a data broadcast server implements a data/object carousel.
It is another object of the present invention to provide a method for generating a broadcast interoperable protocol capable of effectively generating a broadcast interoperable protocol when a data broadcast server implements a data/object carousel.
In order to achieve the above objects, the apparatus for generating a broadcast interoperable protocol message in accordance with the present invention includes a data/object carousel manager for periodically outputting cyclic data and transmitting the same upon receipt of a broadcast signal in accordance with the present invention, a stream server for outputting audio/video data, and a remux unit for outputting remultiplexing data to a client upon receipt of the cyclic data and the audio/video data.
In order to achieve the above objects, in a broadcast interoperable protocol message for transmitting a series of objects in a broadcast server to a client, the method for generating a broadcast interoperable protocol message in accordance with the present invention includes the steps of classifying the series of objects as a module, obtaining an interoperable object reference (IOR) to the objects, and forming the objects in a single broadcast interoperable protocol message.
Additional advantages, objects and features of the invention will become more apparent from the description which follows.